Members of Solidarna Polska, the newly formed political club which was created last Monday, refrained from declaring a full-fledged party and said they wanted to remain members of the conservative party.

“If any of the MPs files a submission to the Speaker of the Sejm [lower house of parliament] by Friday asserting their membership of the PiS club, they will not be included in the resolution,” said Law and Justice's press spokesman Adam Hofman.

At present, the 17 PiS members facing the axe include senator Maciej Klima as well as16 MPs and MEPs.

Besides Ziobro himself, two members of PiS have already been fully expelled from the party, Jacek Kurski and Tadeusz Cymanski.

The Polish Press Agency has published a letter sent by Solidarna Polska on 11 November to prominent party members, calling for “decisive change” in Law and Justice, following successive defeats at elections, “thanks to which the Polish right can win the hearts and minds of Poles and finally win [an election].”

Zbigniew Ziobro had once been tipped as a potential successor to Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, but the latter was resolute about staying on in the position, in spite of losing the general election on 9 October.

Ziobro served as Minister of Justice in the 2005-2007 coalition government led by Law and Justice.